There are several important factors to consider when buying gold body jewelry, especially gold belly button rings. Gold is always the most popular choice for body jewelry, as gold is the most recognizable jewelry component and has a timeless appeal.
How do you know your gold body jewelry is really gold? It’s worth spending a little time to understand how you can make sure your gold body jewelry is pure, and not a substandard piece.
The first aspect to consider with body jewelry is karat content. You never want to buy body jewelry less than 18 karat gold. Lesser karat content, like 14k gold, means you’ll run the risk of a body jewelry allergy, which are discomforting at best and downright painful at worst.
Body jewelry allergies usually occur because the gold body jewelry contains significant other metal content. Inexpensive body jewelry is usually just gold plated. If the body jewelry is simply gold plated, it should never be used in piercings.
After the polish goes away, the allergic risk is high, especially if the other metal used is nickel. Nickel is the most common metal used for body jewelry, particularly for white gold belly button rings. The cheaper the body jewelry, the more unlikely it has a high level of gold purity.
It’s important to check what other metals are present in your gold body jewelry. The lower the karat level in your body jewelry, the higher the content of metals like copper, zinc, and nickel. In fact, other metals are almost always used to formulate body jewelry because gold itself is so soft and needs other metals to form jewelry.
18 karat gold has a 75% gold composition. That’s why, when choosing body jewelry, you should always go with 18 karat. Most very inexpensive body jewelry is 14 karat gold, so to avoid painful jewelry allergies, go with 18 karat gold.
Consider these factors when buying gold body jewelry:
1. Buy jewelry from a store with a quality assurance and testing program. These stores test their own jewelry for purity.
2. Avoid trademark or logo body jewelry if there isn’t a license stamped on the back. Any trademark must also display licensing directly on the body jewelry.
3. To make absolutely sure you’ve got legitimate gold, you can have the body jewelry tested at an independent lab for $20. Labs are available in almost every large city.
4. Closely examine the body jewelry’s quality. Look at your body jewelry with a jeweler’s scope. If edges are frayed or there are imperfections, there are quality and manufacturing issues.
One last item … remember that 24 karat gold is the only pure gold. 18k, 14k, and 10k all have gold and other metals present. For reference, 18k gold is 75% pure gold, high quality, affordable, and your best choice to reduce the risk of any problems.